New Sun Rising
by calliope821
Summary: She has a plan. A plan to end the storm and bring her city out of captivity. Just call her the Gray Guardian.
1. Prologue

Angry purple clouds roil across the sky. The incessant sound of thunder, not the kind that rumbles but the kind that crashes and cracks like a giant whip and _booms!_, is punctuated by flashes of lightning that invert the colors of the world for a split second before vanishing, leaving nothing but their afterimages branded into the eyes of anyone foolish enough to walk the streets. The wind howls and rattles, and it is almost as though the wind is a living thing with a voice. And it is screaming.

There is no rain.

This is no innocent thunderstorm, no summer squall. Amity Park has been in the thrall of this devastating tempest for nearly a year. The sickly purple-green darkness that permeates the air is more like fog than shadow. It weighs down heavily on the streets, the buildings, pushes its omnipresent bulk against boarded-up windowpanes, making them creak in protest. It batters at mailboxes, plays tug-of-war with power lines, wears away at brick and stone. The whole city groans and moans under the weight of the darkness, but the sounds of the city are drowned out by the constant _crash _of the thunder.

The streets are devoid of life; but they are not empty. The dead, the wandering spirits of those long passed on, populate the streets. They make the streets their own, leaving the living to cower in the homes, knowing that at any time the ghosts may, on no more than a whim, come a-haunting or a-hunting. There is nothing they can do about that. Nothing but wait.

_Once, this city had a savior. Once it was protected. And once upon a time, they killed him. _

That was all it had taken. Without their protector, they gave up.

_He was half ghost. But he was half human, too. He kept the balance. And when he died the balance tipped. Not in our favor._

A hooded figure creeps along walls and tiptoes through shadowed alleyways. She knows she must not be seen; anyone caught outside the protection of a human dwelling gets ripped to shreds. She knows it is foolish to risk going outside, but there is someone she needs to see. She has a plan, a plan to end the storm.

_The night is almost over. It is time for the sun to rise again._


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: I apologize for the roughness. It's been awhile since I've done any prose writing (my English professor has me doing poetry at the moment) and I didn't really edit this. Hopefully you still enjoy! I know I didn't give you guys much in the prologue, and this is pretty short too, but I don't have as much time to write as I'd like to. Sue me.**

**Just kidding. Don't do that. Especially if you're with Nickelodeon, because I don't own Danny Phantom or any affiliated characters. And there is my disclaimer.**

**Happy reading, let me know what you think!**

* * *

_I suppose I'm not as bad off as some people, _she thought to herself. Ironically, at that moment she was lying facedown on the pavement in a puddle of stagnant water. _At least I'm outside. And it could've been worse; that could've been Skulker or another really dangerous ghost, instead of just a no-name has-been. _

Everything ached. The ghost may have been a no-name, but it still knew how to pack a punch. And ectoplasmic blasts. And it might have had claws; at the moment, she was having trouble discerning the difference between the turgid water seeping into her clothes and what might be blood dripping from her left thigh. Though, she was pretty sure that wet feeling on her arm and shoulder was blood. It hurt a little more than the rest of her.

She was tempted to just lie there; as uncomfortable as the hard pavement was, the thought of moving and agitating her many scrapes and bruises was enough to make her balk a little. But she knew if she stayed there for too long, sooner or later another one would be along to finish her off, and she simply couldn't let that happen. Gingerly, deliberately, she pushed herself up onto her shaky knees with arms that trembled from the effort. Not so long ago she'd had a very healthy figure, one she was proud of; she'd always had enough to eat, and she was more fit that anyone she knew. Of course, that was before the invasion. No, the takeover; the humans hadn't put up any kind of a fight worth mentioning. Now, times were hard for everyone, and she was no different: she was gaunt, her face looked hollow and drained, and she was twenty pounds underweight. She may be better off than some, but she was still slowly starving to death.

_We can't go on like this much longer. We need a miracle. _Or a savior...

Fighting waves of nausea and burning pain, she dragged herself to her feet. A sudden, blinding headache stabbed between her eyes, and she swayed, clutching at her face, gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain. She felt every bruise, every scrape as though each was outlined with fire; her arm and shoulder burned as though branded and her injured leg shook under her weight. And underneath the battle pains was the constant, gnawing ache of hunger in the pit of her empty stomach.

_Shake it off, girl. You've survived worse._

She staggered forward, every jolting step sending a fresh wave of pain jarring from her head to her feet. Caution was a luxury of the past; it was all she could do to stay upright. If a ghost came along now, she was easy pickings.

_Have to make it. Almost there; think I can see it._

She was losing coherency, but she held on to the most important thought: Get to the ghost shield. The Fenton's house. She could see the faint glow of the shield already, just around the corner. She gritted her teeth against the pain and fixed her eyes on the light. One agonizing step at a time, she made her way toward it. She rounded the corner. The faint glow became a bright haze. She stumbled a few steps closer. It was now blinding her, its intense fluorescence filling her vision. She took one more step... and fell right through it. She landed face-first on the pavement, for the second time that day, but all of her somehow made it inside the barrier. It was a little warmer on this side.

Her mind swimming feebly against a tide of unconsciousness, she heard on some distant plane of existence, a door burst open. A shrill voice screeched, "Mom, come quick! There's someone on our driveway!" There was a faint reply, too far away for her to make out. She struggled to form words, to shout out that she was friendly or that she needed help, or something along those lines, but through the haze of pain all that her brain could communicate to her mouth was unintelligible gibberish. But she wasn't ready to give up yet. Fighting against muscles as unyielding as iron bars, she lifted her head to look.

The silhouette of a woman appeared, framed by the yellow light that spilled out from the open doorway, and that was the last thing Valerie saw as the rising tide of blackness engulfed her.

* * *

**Remember, reviews=love, and love=more chapters! **


End file.
